Things can only get better

Stathi Paxinos and Phil Lutton

RON McKeon's first reaction when he heard that his swimmer, first-time Olympian Jarrod Poort, had been involved in ''some argy bargy'' with a teammate at the national team's pre-Games camp in Manchester was one of disbelief. Things like that did not happen on Australian teams, or so McKeon, a dual Olympian in the pool himself, had thought.

McKeon, who was not on the Australian Olympic team coaching staff, sought out the teenager to find out what had happened. He was assured by Poort that the dispute - which is one of several referred to in the Bluestone report into team culture and leadership that was released on Tuesday - had been quickly resolved.

''There was a disagreement between him and another athlete,'' McKeon said. ''I spoke to Jarrod to say 'is everything all right, was there anything untoward with the other fellow?' and he said 'we in fact sat down together and played a game and watched TV that night' so there was no underlying issues.

''[With] the Olympic team coming back a coach did ask me what happened because they had heard something from the team [but] I hadn't heard anything to report otherwise. Whatever happened, Jarrod appeared to be satisfied with the outcome and it had all been settled.

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''I was actually a bit concerned and very disappointed that something like that had happened on an Australian team and I actually took exception with Jarrod because I didn't know the full story. I said 'nothing like this happens in an Australian team' and he said everything was fine and it was just a disagreement and he felt he wasn't victimised at all from it.''

Two reports released on Tuesday revealed the dysfunctional state of Swimming Australia before and during the Olympics, by highlighting cultural deficiencies, chronic mismanagement and favouritism, among a catalogue of other issues.

Some athletes were also accused of bullying, abusing prescription drugs, failing to remain in the stands to cheer on teammates and drunkenness on the flight home.

Swimming Australia president Barclay Nettlefold said the incident would be examined by an integrity panel that would be announced on Thursday, but he was confident that it had been handled appropriately at the time with staff aiding a truce.

''I just think it was just one of those young boy, older boy [situations of] flexing their own self-importance,'' he said.

McKeon, whose son David was also on the team, said both swimmers' desire to again swim for Australia had not been dimmed by anything that may have happened in Britain. Poort will compete in the five-kilometre race in the open water swimming titles in Spain later this year.

Meanwhile, James Magnussen's coach Brant Best has gone into bat for the swimmers, saying they weren't lacking in heart and some were simply guilty of trying too hard at the London Games.

Best readily conceded there were significant mistakes made leading into London, many of which he said had already been acted upon as Australian swimming turned a sharp corner on the road to this year's world titles.

But he refuted the notion that the swimming squad was full of pampered athletes who were more interested in showboating and partying than racing.

''These are good kids and hard workers. They eat, they sleep and they swim. Most of them hold down part-time or full-time jobs to support that. A couple of them got a little bit carried away. They just went in the wrong direction but they have responded,'' Best said.

''These guys can handle that they didn't swim so well and they're disappointed. But some of the comments are nasty and personal.''

Central to Best's view is Magnussen.

His pre-Games swagger, then perceived flop in London, was greeted with waves of criticism and he took much of the heat for Australia's worst swimming effort since 1976.

''Magnussen's performance in London was because he tried too hard. The guy just felt like he let his country down and that was his primary concern. A selfish person worries about themselves but all he was concerned about was how he'd let everyone down,'' Best said. ''That comes from someone who wants to give. Some people got carried away with that.''